Hard 2 Love
by MsliveforChrist
Summary: Pepperony Songfic to Hard 2 Love by Lee Brice


**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Iron Man or the song "Hard 2 Love" if I did I'd be a lot richer than I am **  
**I heard this song and thought it was perfect for Tony and Pepper. Let me know what you think, but no flame please.**

** l/lee+brice/hard+to+love_ **** here's a link to the song if you don't know the words **

Tony heard the door to the lab open and listened for footsteps but there were none. Looking up from the car he'd been working on he saw Pepper standing there in a nice dress, an angry expression plastered accross her face. It took him a moment to realize, Pepper angry and all dressed up, holy crap! He'd forgotten they had a date tonight.

"Pep, I'm sorry I just got caught up in working and I let the time get away from me and..." Peper cut him off mid sentence

"Save it, Tony" She turned around and stalked off. The door closed behind her.

"Crap," Tony muttered to himself, leaning back against his car, "I've pissed her off big time."

Tony poured another shot of whiskey the second he finished his last one. JARVIS sure kept his personal bar well stocked. He'd already had a couple glasses of scotch and one of burboun, and now he was on his 5th shot of whiskey. He knew he should stop, but he didn't. Not until he passes out at the bar.

"You slept here last night?!" Tony opened his eyes to Pepper's glare. God his head was killing him, and the light was blinding. Tony was vaguly aware that Pepper had just asked him another question.

"What?" He managed to say.

"I said, how much did you drink last night, Tony?" Tony at least had a conscience enough to be sheepish.

"Um, a lot?" Pepper sighed and pulled out two asprin.

"Here take these." She said laying them down on the counter with a bottle of water before walking away.

Tony stumbled into the bedroom at 1:00.

"Where've you been?" Pepper asked from her spot on the bed. Her worry quickly turning to anger.

"Why do you want to know, don't you trust me?" The moment he said it he knew he should take it back. Pepper looked like he'd slapped her accross the face.

"Do I have a reason not too?" She demanded.

"No! Gosh no Pep, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that I was down in the lab with Bruce helping him with a project and time got away from us and my phone died." He could see that she forgave him.

"It's okay." she sighed sliding over on the bed as he climed up next to her.

"No it's not, and I know I pull this crap all the time and I'm sorry. I honestly don't know why you stay with me." Pepper just smiled and pulled him down for a kiss.

Tony knew he pushed Pepper almost to the breaking point at least every other day. He just wasn't good at this relationship stuff. He tries, he really does, but he messes up alot and does stupid things but through it all Pepper stayed with him. He doesn't know certainly would have left by now if he was in her shoes.

The alarm sounded and Tony rushed through the tower to suit up. Right before he was about to leave to go meet up with the other Avengers Pepper ran into the room.

"Tony wait!" she called and he pulled up his face mask. She rushed up to him and gave him a kiss. It was desperate and needy and so full of love.

"Please be careful Tony, I need you." Pepper told him after they had broken apart. Tony nodded, flipped the mask down, and went on his way to save the day.

***Later that night***

Pepper came in just as the last few pieces of his suit were removed. He could tell the day had been stressful on her. A giant robotic monster had been released by the weeks new supervillian and it had taken the team a while to stop it. And of course there had been a few close calls. Tony walked off the platform after the last piece of his suit had been removed and gathered Pepper into his arms.

"I love you" he whispered into her ear. It was hard for him to say, and Pepper knew that.

"I love you too." She whispered back. Tony kissed her.

"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve you Pep."

"Pepper, shut up!" Tony snapped at her. She immediately fell silent and Tony instantly regretted the remark. It wasn't her fault he'd had a bad day. "I'm sorry Pep." He put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off. Her face gave away how much the remark had hurt her. They spent the rest off the evening in silence, with Pepper rejecting any attempt Tony made to fix his mistake. She knew that eventually she would forgive him, but right now she wanted him to feel as crappy as she did.

Everyday Pepper was forgiving him for some reason or the other. He'd forgotton a date, or worse their anniversary, he'd snapped at her for some reason or the other, every-freaking-day he made some other stupid mistake that Pepper should probably leave him for. She never did though, she just kept on forgiving him, and he did his best to show her what that meant to him.

"Pepper, I know I take you for granted a lot. I know I'm a jerk, and you probably should have left me about nine-thousand times now. But I love you, and I love that you never run out of second chances for me." Pepper smiled and kissed him, and for the life of him, Tony couldn't figure out why she loved him too.

To the world, Tony was Iron Man, he was invincible, but to Pepper he was just Tony. He was just a man. A man who made a lot of mistakes.

**It's not the best I've ever written. This is my first time working with these characters so cut me a little slack. Again please review! Constructive criticism is welcome but no hate!**


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